Westchester 'govmint' is ethically challenged

Buried deep inside Chapter 107 of the Westchester County Charter there is a rule that states the following: "A county legislator shall not hold any other salaried or elective public office during his tenure."

Legislators work part time so it is common for them to hold outside jobs. But the key word in the law is "public."

The other day I mentioned this restriction to Legislator Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, who, in January, was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Yonkers Industrial Agency—a post that pays $60,000 in addition to the $49,200 legislative salary Jenkins annually receives.

Isn't the IDA job a public office?

Jenkins replied in an email, "My position is not a public office." He also said that he ran it past his attorney who gave him an OK.

Established by the state legislature, IDAs are public benefit corporations whose purpose is to advance development, promote economic growth and create jobs. In other words, they are theoretically set free to do good things — though critics say they are too free and often escape scrutiny.

At any rate, there's a lot of "public" in what they do, including the requirement that they hold public hearings in cases in which a project is supported by a substantial amount of public money. Typically an IDA operates on fees paid by businesses that participate in its programs.

As Jenkins pointed out, he doesn't set tax policy. Nor is he a member of the Yonkers IDA board, which votes for exemptions and inducements such as payments in lieu of taxes. The board consists of the mayor, five mayoral appointees and a city council appointee.

This is gray-area stuff. Given the special nature of the IDA, Jenkins could be right that he's technically within the charter guidelines.

Nevertheless, nobody in county government bothered to question the appointment. It just happened without any official ruling one way or another. The county has a board of ethics, but the scope of its power is limited, and few are even aware of its existence.

If nothing else, this is the sort of thing that supports the 23-member Charter Revision Commission's noble effort to revamp the county's ethics code and give it more teeth. In the opinion of Mark Davies, the executive director of the New York City Conflict of Interest, an overhaul is needed in Westchester.

Addressing the commission, Davies said the county's ethics law, "while not terrible, needs some serious work to bring it up to the standards of a modern, effective, municipal ethics law."

Davies emphasizes that the focus should be on guidance and prevention, not punishment. Most important, ethics guidelines should further "not only the reality but also the perception of integrity in government because no matter how honest the government is in fact, it cannot function effectively if citizens believe their officials are self-serving or corrupt."

Underline "perception." That's precisely why appointments like the one given Jenkins should be reviewed, if only to avoid the perception that government is a cynical insider's game where rules can be bent as needed.

Davies believes that the ethics board should have unmitigated power to rule and enforce the ethics law "for every public official who is subject to it." This is a crucial tenet. Recall for a moment the case of Bill Ryan, the former Democratic county legislator in White Plains.

In the waning days of his 16-year tenure at the end of 2013, Ryan sought a waiver on the ethics law that demands that county legislators wait a full year before they take a job with any company or corporation that may have come before the board with business requiring legislative action. Ryan wanted to immediately take a $190,000 a year job offered by the Westchester County Health Corp., the managing company of the Westchester County Medical Center.

The power to grant the waiver rested in the hands of the Board of Legislators. Do you need to ask?

Ryan got the waiver, thanks to his colleagues — among them Jenkins, who was then chairman.

Under a revamped ethics law, the members of the ethics board would have the authority to rule on the waiver application with the full expectation that they would do so without fear or favor.

Whether there is enough political will to change the law remains to be seen.

Paul Windels, a member of the Charter Revision Commission told me he was hopeful. "The only thing I would be disappointed in would be if they just took our report and put it on the shelf, and it got dust," he said. "And I don't think that's happening."

Watch "The Phil Reisman Show" at 12:30 p.m. Thursdays on lohud. The show explores issues in politics, culture and everyday life in the Lower Hudson Valley. Watch episodes and highlights at lohud.com/reisman